Former NBA star Tracy McGrady has revealed that missing the opportunity to face Kobe Bryant in the 2009 NBA playoffs remains one of the biggest disappointments of his career.
McGrady was playing for the Houston Rockets at the time but was forced to end his season because of a knee injury that required microfracture surgery.
The seven-time NBA All-Star recalled making the difficult decision to stop playing and undergo rehabilitation while watching his teammates compete in the postseason.
“I was like, ‘Yeah, I’m done. I’ve got to shut it down.’ So that was my last game. I went and had microfracture surgery. I’m sitting up in Chicago watching my team play, and I’m in this machine eight hours out of the day. I’m struggling, man.”
Despite McGrady’s absence, Houston advanced past the Portland Trail Blazers in the first round of the 2009 playoffs, setting up a second-round series against Bryant and the Los Angeles Lakers.
The Rockets pushed the eventual NBA champions to seven games, even after losing Yao Ming to a foot injury during the series.
McGrady explained how difficult it was to watch his teammates compete against the Lakers without being able to contribute.
“We play a young Portland team in the playoffs and beat them. Then we got the Lakers in the second round, and I’m watching my team play. We win, and we win again. Then Yao gets hurt, and we’re in Game 7 without Yao, without me. You know how depressing that is?”
For McGrady, the disappointment extended beyond Houston’s elimination.
He had spent years competing against Bryant as one of the NBA’s premier perimeter players but never had the opportunity to face him in a playoff series.
“But not only that, do you know who I would have been going up against in those Western Conference Finals, in that second round? Me and Kobe, bro. I missed that. I missed that playoff matchup, man. I missed that.”
McGrady emphasized that the missed individual competition was particularly difficult to accept because he considered Bryant one of his closest rivals in terms of talent and standing in the league.
“Forget everything else. I missed that competition. Me and Kobe in the playoffs. That’s tough. That’s when I had to lean on my faith to get me out of that. I struggled with that for a while. Kobe was like my peer. We were neck and neck. I struggled with that. I really struggled with that.”
The Lakers ultimately defeated Houston in seven games before advancing to the Western Conference Finals and winning the 2009 NBA championship.
McGrady, who averaged 19.6 points, 5.6 rebounds and 4.4 assists during his NBA career, never faced Bryant in the postseason.
